>> in terms of the quality of politician that he was and what he did for the people, he will be sorely missed. >> one day after senator edward kennedy was laid to rest at arlington national cemetery, thousands gathered to pay their respects. the cemetery opened to the public this morning and thousands lined up to visit the grave site. >> there was a mix of emotion

from visitors who felt compelled to be here today after watching yesterday's funeral procession. as expected, it was a busy day. a crowd gathered, taking in the site of edward kennedy's final g reinstplace. following days of public and private tribute, the late senator edward kennedy rests at arlington national cemetery. his grave site is marked with a white cross and name plate, he is near his two brothers. >> it's the end of an era. >> as family members said their final good-byes at yesterday's burial service, the public could only be part of the ceremony in spirit. but today, the grounds opened. >> we just, you know, wanted to pay our respects. >> it's a once in a lifime

thing. >> many visitors felt compelled to be here in person, including jerry welsh who had a chance to meet the senator 30 years ago. >> i think it's for me something i had to do for myself. keep capturing the spirit and keep living it. he's gone, now it's up to the rest of us. >> the man who touch sod many lives now has a permanent spot in history. >> we learned that more will be added to the grave site a walkway will be constructed soon. if you want to catch a glimpse of senator kennedy's grave site the first day it's open to the public, you still can, the gates here are open until 7:00 p.m. >> thanks. there are questions on capitol hill about how the death of senator edward kennedy will affect the health care debate. connecticut democrat chris dodd said lawmakers should set aside the heated rhetoric and pass a

plan to cut costs and extend coverage. republican senator orrin hatch of utah said kennedy's absence hurts the chances of congress passing the plan. both men were friends of senator kennedy's. former vice president dick cheney calls the investigation into whether c.i.a. interrogators tortured terrorism suspects an intensely partisan move. >> i think it's an outrageous political act that will do great damage long-term to our capacity to be able to have people take on difficult jobs, make difficult decisions without having to worry about what the next administration is going to say. >> attorney general eric holder ordered the probe last week. cheney said the harsh tactics were used to save lives after the september 11 attack. montgomery county police are searching for answers after a man was found dead outside his -y67ole r- the 67-year-old victim was found early this morning in the 9 hurks block of university

boulevard. richard reed is live with the latest development. >> police say this is no ordinary crime scene. this area is well known for organized marathon dominos games that go late into the night. now police are looking for a killer. david jones' face shows frustration and sadness. why he asks, would someone shoot his brother-in-law, leavinging him to die only steps from his house? >> he didn't have enemy or anything like that. >> police were called here around 5:00 a.m. sunday. >> you hear the gunshots. >> arifing officers found 63-year-old clarence rankin in a side yard, fatally wounded. >> it's shocking when someone is kill, partilacu67rly right outside their home. >> investigators quickly got word of two other wounded men who appeared at a nearby

hospital. >> we're not sure how these people that were at the hospital about the same time as the gunshot wounds are related to this event o how they're realed to this event. >> but neighbor says the corner is a magnet for loud parties and fighting. as investigators sort through the scene, there are dozens of evidence markers here, some like 73-year-old wilson say they felt like they're trapped in their own homes. >> i ner step across, i never step out, unless i'm going to go grocery shopping. i'm always cooped up in here. >> police are stressing this was not a random crime. they believe that rankin knew his killer. family members say rankin was seen in a bar late last night, they're trying to track his movements nd police did find what they believe is the murder weapon, a handgun, at the scene. if you have information about this crime, police would like to hear from you.

>> thank you, richard. prince georges county school officials say by tomorrow, the confusion over class schedules should be cleared up. more than 8,000 high school students didn't have schedule whence school started last monday. officials blame the computer system for the problem. they spent the week sitting in the cafeteria, the gym or the wrong classes. about 500 teachers are new to the school system. there are nearly 138,000 school systems in montgomery county public schools. tonight, thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate as wild fires threaten several neighborhoods in california. hundreds of fire fighters are watting -- battling the flames. it could take a week to get it under control. >> firefighters are battling a wild fire sending massive plumes of smoke into the sky north of los angeles.

>> 150 homes have been evacuated, which was a mandatory evacuation. others have been encouraged to evacuate. 1,800 homes and 52 buildings have been threatened. >> thick smoke is making it difficult for water-dropping aircraft to fly close enough to help. >> our strategy is to kick the fire when it's down and fight back through a defensive mode when we need to and go back to it again. >> the blaze has consumed more than 31 square miles of dry forest and is only 5% contained. >> this is a serious situation we're in right now. >> they worry about the blaze reaching mount wilson which handles key television and radio transmission towers. at the same time, they're trying to save many homes. >> it's an extremely difficult fire. the priorities are the residences. >> governor schwarzenegger already declared a state of

emergency for the area. >> we have the first look at our forecast. some changes? >> good changes on the way. plenty of sunshine, cooler, drier air in the for ats we enter the start of the upcoming work and school week. satellite and radar combinations show scattered short-terms -- thunderstorms across the area right now. it holds true for the overnight hours. they drop down to the mid to upper 50's. lower 60's with winds out of the norther hour. coming up, we'll take a look at the extded outlook, we have a cool down and warmup and wouldn't you know it in time for the labor day holiday weekend, i'll have more in a few minutes. >> thanks, steve. coming up on abc 7 news at 6:30, the "extreme makeover: home edition" team has been hard at work in d.c., did they make their deadline?

plus, seven people found dead inside a mobile home. investigators search for answers. and a dreyer loses control of an s.u.v. and plows right into a home. the dramatic picture next on abc there are moments in time when the paths we take do determine our future. today we are communicating with each other as never before - and that requires a seamless network that is constantly growing better, smarter, and more secure.

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>> a birthday party near atlanta turned tragic after an s.u.v. crashed into a home. authority says a man was killed and several other people were injured. neighbor sthace driver was going about 90 miles per hour at the time of the crash. the driver has been charged with vehicular homicide. police say he could face additional charges. investigators are looking at whether drugs or alcohol were stroved. investigators are trying to piece together what happened inside a southeast georgia mobile home where seven people were found dead. police saynd f people who h beead ctinrically jured. investigators say they haven't spoken to survivors yet.

the nine victims lived in the trailer but they haven't said muchore about the murders that have shake then quiet community. >> everybody needs to be cautious, including you all. i would not rule out anything right now. >> the man who found the bodies, 22-year-old guy heinze, was st rear es a well as on charges of tampering with evidence and making false charges tohe police. he's not a suspect in the case, according to the police. authorities -- investigators believe phillip garrito may be connected to the murder of several prostitutes in the 1990's. he and his wife nancy are charged with kidnapping jacie bugart and holding her and two children she had with him. president uribe has contracted

swine flu. he's not considered on high risk. he became sick friday after attending a summit of south american leaders. cooler temperatures making their way into our area. we have details on a cool down. plus an amazing survival story. three men are rescued after being stranded at sea for more than a week. the details, next, on abc 7 newn

>> it's an amazing story of survival. three texas men back on solid ground after spending more than a week stranded at sea. they were reported missing after failing to return from a fishing trip on august 22. a car dealer out for a cruise yesterday afternoon found the mesitting on top of their

capsized boat. his video camera was rolling after -- as the men called their families and dined on steak. >> they hadn't eaten in eight day, they hadn't had water, they'd been rationing the water, ate crackers. >> the men were found a day after the coast guard stopped searching for them. the men are said to be doing just find. the cast and cw of abc's "extreme makeover: home edition" unveiled their second big project in the d.c. area. the brand new school in northeast d.c. was unveiled today. it was supposed to take place yesterday but was delayed because of bad weather. it was a busy week for the crew and volunteers as they also built a new home for a family in hyattsville. this is only the second time, i believe, in seven years that they got delayed and it was the d.c. weather that did it.

>> last sunday we had rain, yesterday rain again, today really nice weather. i think a lot of people are happy. from earlier this morning, you can see how the clouds rolled in, pushed out, therey' sinrtg to push up again from the south. this is part of a cold front starting to move just a little bit, going to give us increased clouds for aew hours. look outside, the clouds are beginning to build, they'll go later on tonight and temperatures will eventually fall. parts of the area could see temp iatesurn 5inen 0's. our first stop takes us to camp springs, maryland, a daytime high of 83, they had a few sprinkles, but look at the dewpoint levels, impressive, mid 40's. mid 40's right now in leesburg with a current temperature of 78 degrees. 78 at children's hospital after a daytime high of 81. official high at reagan national, 85 degrees. cooler than normal for this time of year. the record 99 set back in 1953.

temperatures across the area, 82 in fredeck, 77 over -- 77 degrees out there in west virginia at this hour. 69 for cincinnati, 68 in detroit. frost advisories for northern michigan and northern wisconsin. nothing like that for us. eventually high pressure will win out and that will allow plenty of sunshine and temperatures 10 to 12 degrees below arch for this time of year. better day today than yesterday. tomorrow, the cooler air will settle in a northerly wind will keep our temperatures in the lower 70's. for tonight, scattered clouds, cool and comfortable. talk about mid to upper 50's in our suburbs, lower 60's downtown. tomorrow, start out with temperatures in the 60's, partly cloudy skies a nice afternoon, but cool. 69 to 74 degrees with winds out of the northwest at five to 10

miles per hour. here's the extended outlook showing temperatures cooling tomorrow night into the mid 50's. potomac highlands out to the west, could see temperatures to the upper 40's. we'll warm it up into the mid 70's by wednesday and thursday as we enter the labor day holiday week, we'll call for temperatures in the lower 80's, nighttime lows in the 60's. summer slowly coming to an end, tomorrow it will feel absolutely great out there. no humidity, cooler -- low humidity, cooler temperatures, and sunshine. the trifecta of weather. >> looks great. >> my pleasure. >> do you ever just want to get out of here? the nationals playing st. louis. highlights of their final game with one of the top teams in baseball. with one of the top teams in baseball. we

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>> the redskins take a long look at individual performances from friday night's game against the new england patriots. one player hard to judge is the backup quarterback who is fighting for a job. he wishes he could give this back. the interception at the goal line. 99 yards for a touchdown. he threw this beautiful touchdown pass to rookie wide-out marco mitchell. nice ps, nice grab, touchdown. coach says he feels things -- pope says he feels things are coming together for him. >> get a rhythm going and finally, third drive, i started feeling good, i got the touchdown pass, you know, just football right now, trying to get on the right page and have something good happen for me.

>> he had some real ray -- really big play, a couple of big throws, some great adjustments. he showed a little bit of nflc >> also,fce the skinostrim their roster, ir ig e michael carlos roger a portis portis at rtl po w. portis will miss the final preseason game to rest sore muscles. belliard sent to the dodgers for luis garcia and a player to be named later. cardinals trying to -- nationals trying to scratch out one win.

cardinals up first, adam dunn on base, he comes around to score, that nice game at 1-1. bottom of that evening, cardinals turn, pujols at the plate a shot up the middle, scores a run, they sweep the nats 2-1. a fantastic finish at the barclays tournament in suburban new jersey. tiger woods right in the thick of chings down the stretch. to 13. tiger lining up this putt for birdie. he goes seven under. steve marino was in the mix, he led going into today's final round but he blew up today. he loses it, where does it go? my gosh, way off the course he falls out of contention after a triple bogey there. to 18, tiger can position himself for a tie. tiger can't even believe it didn't go. in he finished at eight under. here's your winner, heath slow come. -- slocum.

the little league world series, seen here on abc 7, california and chinese taipei, liner to right, the runner score the youngsters from california beat chinese taipei to win the little league world series. >> i love it. league world series. >> i love it. we'll be right back.

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>> let's get a final check on the forecast. >> bundle up. it's going to be chilly tomorrow morning. temperatures tomorrow in the lower 60's. tai time highs around 73 to 74

degrees. warming up on tuesday into wednesday, as we enter the weekend, labor day holiday, we look for temperatures in the lower 80's. not necessarily bundle up, but turn off the a.c. >> we'll see you back here at 11:00. (announcer) it's time to raise the bar and replace your old mayo with the full flavor of kraft mayo with olive oil. with the rich taste of imported olive oil

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